News

Onyx Collective’s drama pilot from Roberto Patino and Cassius Corrigan has added four new cast members.

Variety has learned that Liza Colón-Zayas , William Fichtner, Alfredo Castro and Jared Paul Abrahamson have all been cast in the pilot in recurring guest star roles.

They join previously announced cast members Edgar Ramírez, Jacob Scipio, Leslie Grace, Mariana di Girolamo, Liz Caribel Sierra and Armando Rivera.

Colón-Zayas will play Rosie. The official character description states, “As the beloved and socially minded head of a community board in her Lower East Side city district, Rosie finds herself at the center of an explosive real estate development project that inspires as much rage as it does admiration and threatens to destroy the heavily Puerto Rican community she calls home.”

Fichtner will appear as Harry Dempsey, described as “the steady father figure who has guided Abe’s (Scipio) rapid ascent in the real estate world,...

Emmy Award winner Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear) has been cast in a recurring role in the as-yet-untitled real estate drama pilot ordered by the Onyx Collective for Hulu, alongside William Fichtner (Lucky), Alfredo Castro (El Conde) and Jared Paul Abrahamson (The Penguin). Production begins in Toronto on July 14.

They join the previously announced leads, Edgar Ramirez and Jacob Scipio, and series regulars Leslie Grace, Mariana di Girolamo, Liz Caribel Sierra and Armando Rivera.

From Roberto Patino and Cassius Corrigan, the drama follows a cutthroat battle to dominate the Manhattan skyline, where two rival real estate developers (Ramirez and Scipio) risk everything — wealth, family and their souls — as their ambition turns into obsession, and their partnership turns into war.

Colón-Zayas will play Rosie, as the beloved and socially minded head of a community board in her Lower East Side city district. Rosie finds herself at the center of an explosive real...

Three years after working together on Batgirl, two stars from the scrapped DC Extended Universe are reuniting for a new project. Leslie Grace and Jacob Scipio will star as a married couple in an untitled real estate drama pilot for Hulu.

According to Deadline, Scipio will co-lead the Hulu pilot with Edgar Ramirez, with Grace set as a series regular alongside Mariana di Girolamo, Liz Caribel Sierra, and Armando Rivera. Scipio will play "Abe Alonso, a wildly ambitious, charismatic up-and-coming real estate developer from the outer boroughs of New York City. He is willing to do whatever it takes to seize the American Dream for his growing family." As for Grace, she has been cast as "Val Alonso-Rivera, a passionate architect on a mission to create beautiful, affordable housing amid an industry driven by quick production and cost-cutting at every turn. She is Abe’s wife and unwavering partner-in-crime who fiercely protects her family.

Exclusive: Jacob Scipio is set to co-lead the as-yet-untitled real estate drama pilot ordered by the Onyx Collective for Hulu, opposite Edgar Ramirez. The series regular cast includes Leslie Grace (In The Heights), Mariana di Girolamo (Ema), Liz Caribel Sierra (Dope Thief) and Armando Rivera.

Production To Start July 14 in Toronto.

From Roberto Patino and Cassius Corrigan, the drama follows a cutthroat battle to dominate the Manhattan skyline, where two rival real estate developers (Ramirez and Scipio) risk everything — wealth, family and their souls — as their ambition turns into obsession, and their partnership turns into war.

Scipio will play Abe Alonso, a wildly ambitious, charismatic up-and-coming real estate developer from the outer boroughs of New York City. He is willing to do whatever it takes to seize the American Dream for his growing family.

Grace will play Val Alonso-Rivera, a passionate...

Holed up in an attempt to go cold turkey before a crucial race, once-renowned jockey Remo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) asks his pregnant partner and fellow jockey Abril (Úrsula Corberó), “What can I do to make you love me again?” To which she replies, “Die and be reborn.” Accordingly, director Luis Ortega sets out with Kill the Jockey to tell a prototypical sports-movie comeback story, albeit through far from conventional means.

Set in Buenos Aires, the film is a sports movie in the same way that Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo is a western. It could just as easily be shelved under crime drama, rock mockumentary, or ghost story. While Ortega’s style doesn’t quite transcend the influence of filmmakers such as Lynch, Godard, Fellini, and Almodóvar, it melds them with surprising assurance. Kill the Jockey’s originality consists not just in taking the clichéd metaphor of rebirth literally, but...

Martin McDonagh is coming off of the critical darling The Banshees of Inisherin with Wild Horse Nine. The director is partnering with Searchlight Pictures again after working with them on another critical darling, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The new film already has an all-star cast associated with the project, including Sam Rockwell, Mark Ruffalo and John Malkovich. The project was first announced back in 2021 and was yet to be titled. According to Deadline, the film rolls cameras this month on Rapa Nui, “the indigenous name for Easter Island, a protected Chilean wildlife area 3,700 kilometers off the country’s coast known for its unrivalled cultural landscape and for being the most remote inhabited island on Earth. The Rapa Nui National Park continues to maintain a high degree of authenticity, having had minimal intervention since the area’s near-abandonment in the late 19th century.” Now, Deadline reports that Tom Waits, who...

Exclusive: Mariana di Girolamo, Oscar nominee Tom Waits, Ailín Salas and Paola Giannini are boarding Martin McDonagh’s massive ensemble for Wild Horse Nine, opposite previously announced Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Parker Posey and Steve Buscemi.

The dark comedic drama, which we first told you about, reunites McDonagh with Searchlight Pictures, Blueprint Pictures, and Film4, following their recent collaboration on 9x Academy Award nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, with Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Anita Overland producing.

Chilean film, theatre and television actress di Girolamo starred in Pablo Larraín’s critically acclaimed Ema opposite Gael García Bernal, which gained her international recognition, as well as Kill The Jockey which premiered in Official Competition at the Venice Film Festival. She previously appeared in television series such as La Jauría and El Reino.

Waits reteams with McDonagh and Rockwell following their collaboration on Seven Psychopaths. His previous film credits also include Licorice Pizza,...

Exclusive: Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks locked deals on its AFM titles Electrophilia and Pacifico.

The company has sold Pacifico to Splendid Films for German-speaking Europe and Nashe Kino for Russia, Cis, and the Baltics. The film is set for a 2025 release in all the territories. Directed by Gonzalo Gutierrez, Pacifico is currently in post-production and is set to launch the pic with a market premiere next year. The company has said it’s currently in negotiations with U.S., Spanish, UK, and Latin American distributors.

Described as an adventure-Sci-Fi film, Pacifico follows a group of young travelers that are stranded on an island in the Pacific where they struggle to escape an evil presence that has been kept hidden from mankind for centuries.

The film stars an expansive Latin American ensemble, including Gabi de Faria (James Gunn’s DC Comic’s Superman 2025), Manolo Cardona (Undertow), Ricardo Abarca (Que Culpa Tiene...

Argentina’s National Academy has selected Kill The Jockey (El Jockey) as the country’s submission in the best international feature film Oscar category.

‘Kill The Jockey’: Venice Review

Luis Ortega’s comedy plays in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos section dedicated to Latin American productions after premiering in Venice and received its North American premiere in Toronto.

Nahuel Perez Biscayart from Robin Campillo’s 120 Bpm stars in the tale of identity and reinvention as a gifted jockey who falls foul of a mobster.

The cast includes Ursula Corbero from Money Heist, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, and Daniel Fanego,...

It feels almost unfair to review Kill the Jockey (El Jockey) after having only seen it once. It's stylistically deceptive the opening section plays its absurdity for laughs, but at some point, without telling the audience, the movie decides it wants to be interpreted and not just experienced. I felt ill-equipped to make sense of the journey it took me on at the time, and I'm hardly more equipped now. But that might be the best position from which to capture its charms.

Kill the Jockey

Director Luis OrtegaRelease Date September 26, 2024Writers Rodolfo Palacios, Fabian Casas, Luis OrtegaCast Osmar Nez, Mariana Di Girolamo, Adriana Aguirre, Roberto Carnaghi, Nahuel Prez Biscayart, Roly Serrano, Luis Ziembrowski, Jorge Prado, Daniel Fanego, rsula Corber, Daniel Gimenez CachoCharacter(s) Abril, RemoGenres Drama, Thriller, Crime

The titular jockey is Remo (Nahuel Prez Biscayart), who we meet as an unmitigated mess. He races for a mob boss...

Produced by El Deseo, the company owned by Almodóvars Pedro and Agustin, Luis Ortega’s last film, El Angel (2018) was the gloriously kitsch, sexually mischievous, and very loosely fictionalized true story of a notorious Argentine serial killer known for his baby-faced looks and crimes so hideous that Ortega balked at portraying even half of them. Though it comes without the Almodóvar imprimatur, Kill the Jockey (just The Jockey in Spanish) is a more subdued yet somehow even stranger piece of work, starting out like a deadpan Wes Anderson spoof of a Stanley Kubrick gangster movie and slowly mutating into a genderfluid/trans version of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.

The jockey is Remo Manfredini (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), a once-famous horse racer, and we find him in a catatonic state in a jaw-droppingly bizarre dive bar frequented by literally legless drinkers. Manfredini is out cold, and a gang of mobster types comes to take him.

Luis Ortega’s absurdist comedy “Kill the Jockey,” which plays in Venice competition, is set in Argentina’s horse-racing community. “It’s a wild, wild world,” he tells Variety. “I encountered some very exotic jockeys and horse owners and I thought it’s so great. They’re so crazy and exciting, and [the jockeys] risk their life every race.”

The central character, Remo Manfredini, is clearly psychologically damaged – abusing drugs and alcohol to the extent that we see him fall off his horse even before it leaves the gate – but nonetheless he retains the self-possession and panache of a matador. “There is a lot of pride in that attitude,” says the Argentine filmmaker, whose previous film “El Angel,” about a baby-faced killer, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.

Remo, played by Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, always keeps his race-track cronies at a distance and can seem aloof. “The only way I could relate...

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (Bpm) stars as a troubled jockey whose identity shifts radically after a serious accident on the track in Kill the Jockey (El Jockey), a Venice Film Festival entry by Argentinian director Luis Ortega (El Angel, Dromómanos). Visually lush and full of playful mystery, this equestrian-themed psychological thriller-comedy-whatsit strikes plenty of poses that may tickle the fancy of viewers with a taste for camp, surrealism and/or the absurd. However, others might feel underwhelmed by the film’s strenuous efforts to charm and find it slows to a trot by the end.

Ortega’s knack for nifty needle drops has been noted before, and Kill the Jockey, partly financed by Warner Music Entertainment, stays true to form with a killer soundtrack mixing Latin pop, synth-heavy Edm, local tangos and original music by Sune Rose Wagner. Paired with the saturated color palette, boxy 1:85 aspect ratio and deliberately still and stilted performances,...

Making good on a recent slew of awards at Venice for Chilean films, Chile will be the Venice Production Bridge’s Focus Country in 2025.

The announcement will be made Thursday from the Venice Film Festival by Carolina Arredondo, Chile’s Minister of Culture, Arts, and Heritage as Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s “María,” starring Angelina Jolie as the legendary opera singer Maria Callas, world premieres on Venice’s Lido.

“This is a significant achievement for our creators, who have found in Venice a crucial platform to internationalize their projects,” Arredondo underscored. “Being the Focus Country will allow us to strengthen Chile’s audiovisual industry and attract new opportunities for co-production and global promotion.”

The honor comes after a decade or more, broadly dating back to Larraín’s 2012 “No,” starring Gael García Bernal, when Chile has punched way above its weight as an international film force. Chilean films’ Academy Award tally...

Disney’s Star Distribution has struck a deal with U.K. sales agent Protagonist Pictures for the rights to Luis Ortega’s Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian player “Kill the Jockey.” The film will be released theatrically in Argentina on Sept. 26 and will later be streamed on Disney+ across Latin America.

“The Jockey” is a multi-country co-production from Rei Pictures (“Zama”), El Despacho, Infinity Hill (“Argentina 1985”), Warner Music Entertainment, and Exile. It was also produced in association with ViX, Dim Films and the Ernesto Sábato Foundation in association with Pampa Films (“El Bar”) and the Spanish offices of Gloriamundi. Financial support was provided by Argentina’s Incaa and the city of Buenos Aires, Eficine and the Danish Film Institute. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales.

Already confirmed for a Venice world premiere and Toronto Centerpiece screening, the film was included in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos lineup, announced earlier today.

The Count Of Monte Cristo Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière's new take on The Count Of Monte Cristo has won the coveted Cheval Noir at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, with the jury praising its simplicity and the ingenuity of the filmmakers working on a low budget. Also among the night's success stories was Argentinean drama Electrophilia, which got a special mention from them "for its daring psycho-sexual exploration of the archetypal bond between women and 10-gigawatt lightning bolts, and its pump-fake superhero origin story of a veterinarian who gains the powers of a cow," and saw star Mariana Di Girolamo take the Outstanding Performance Award.

Japanese thriller Penalty Loop won in the editing and music categories, while the country also scored in animation, with Kenji Nakamura's Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom In The Rain receiving the Satoshi Kon Award.

Those...

French epic The Count Of Monte-Cristo has won the Cheval Noir award for best film at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Canadian genre festival’s top prize was bestowed on directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patelliere at Fantasia’s jury awards ceremony on Saturday (July 27), in the middle of the festival’s July 18-Aug 4 run.

The ceremony, at Montreal’s Cinéma du Musée, was hosted by Fantasia’s artistic director and director of international programming Mitch Davis.

The Count Of Monte-Cristo, the latest screen version of Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic, made its debut out of...

Every year, 30 to 60 people in the UK alone are struck by lightning, with 5% to 10% of them dying as a result. The survivors often experience lifelong neurological problems, chronic pain and irritability, which can isolate them from their loved ones. Because the experience is so rare, there’s little public understanding of this, and even doctors may not fully appreciate its effects. It’s only fairly recently that survivors have been starting to find one another and think about what has happened to them in new ways.

Lucía Puenzo’s Electrophilia (original title Los Impactados), which screened as part of the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, follows Ada (Mariana Di Girólamo), an Argentinian vet who is struck by lightning as she helps a baby calf to take its first breath during a storm. She spends five weeks in a coma, waking to find herself with unusual scars: the path that...

FilmSharks has closed a handful of sales on its EFM roster led by Lucia Puenzo’s San Sebastian premiere Electrophilia (Los Impactados) and Miguel Faus’s Tallinn premiere The Quiet Maid (Calladita) presented by Steven Soderbergh.

At Entertainment has acquired Japanese rights to Puenzo’s (Xxy) Horizontes Latinos selection Electrophilia (Arg-usa-Chil), with Alebrije taking Mexico, and Estaçao Esperança acquiring Brazilian rights.

Mariana Di Girólamo (Pablo Larrain’s Ema) stars as a woman who awakens from a coma and experiences strange side-effects after a lightning strike. The Larrain brothers’ Fabula is among the producers.

Warner Bros Discovery has picked up pay...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks, led by CEO Guido Rud, has pounced on world sales rights to Lucia Puenzo’s “Los Impactados” on the eve of the American Film Market (AFM) where it will kick off sales.

Delving into the theme of rebirth in the face of profound trauma, “Los Impactados” follows Ada, portrayed by Mariana Di Girólamo (Pablo Larraín’s “Ema” ), whose unusual journey begins when she is struck by lightning, leading her on a fascinating transformation alongside a mysterious doctor, played by Germán Palacios, the lead from “El Último Hereje.” Along the way, she forms a bond with a group of fellow survivors who find themselves increasingly captivated by the power of electricity.

In an earlier interview with Variety, Puenzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lorena Ventimiglia, said she was intrigued by “the possibility that something as random as lightning could strike us with the force of a nuclear reactor,...

Films by Carolina Markowicz, Isabel Coixet, Jaione Camborda and Isabel Herguera all have international potential.

Highly anticipated features from Isabel Coixet, Lucía Puenzo and Jaione Camborda are among the buzziest Spanish and Latin American titles screening across all strands of this year’s San Sebastián film festival. Here is a flavour of what festival audiences can expect.

Blondi (Argentina)

Dir: Dolores Fonzi

The debut feature from Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi plays in the Horizontes Latinos section, which screens premieres entirely or partially produced in Latin America and not yet released in Spain. Fonzi also stars in the film which is...

Ahead of its world premiere at this year’s San Sebastian Horizontes Latinos strand, Buenos Aires-based production house Historias Cinematográficas has shared an exclusive first look at the trailer for Lucía Puenza’s energetic new film “Los Impactados,” with Variety.

The film is produced by Pepe Puenzo at Historias Cinematográficas, the Puenzo family production house led by Academy Award winner Luis Puenzo, Academy and Emmy award-winning producer Mark Johnson and Paula Manzanedo in association with Exile Content Studio and Non Stop Studios. Co-produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín’s indie outfit Fábula, the narrative turns on a study of rebirth after severe trauma.

Written by Puenzo and Lorena Ventimiglia, the singular narrative follows Ada, played by Mariana Di Girolamo who starred opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in Pablo Larraín’s “Ema,” after she’s struck by lightning and on through to her intriguing metamorphosis alongside an enigmatic and experimental doctor,...

This week's episode features:Mariana Di Girolamo (Chile), one of today’s most well-known actresses. After a successful career in television, she made her film debut in 2019 as the protagonist of Pablo Larraín's eighth feature film, Ema, which premiered in the Official Competition at Venice. Her performances have been characterized by a singular dramatic approach to physical and body work and by portraying complex and unpredictable female characters. She has also collaborated on films by director Leonardo Medel, with whom she has explored unusual narrative formats, such as video dance and virtual reality, and original stagings, such as La Verónica, which premiered in San Sebastian.Peter Lanzani (Argentina), an actor who, from a very young age, participated in very popular television productions both in his country and in Latin America. In 2015, he made his film debut as the protagonist of The Clan (El clan), Pablo Trapero's ninth feature film,...

Exclusive: Vix has begun production on 7 new original titles during the second quarter of the year including 6 series and one film. They include the Sofia Vergara-led Koati: Animated Series and the Benicio del Toro-produced film Matar Al Jockey (Kill The Jockey).

“With these 7 new productions we continue to increase our original content offerings on Vix, with stories that appeal to the diverse tastes of our audiences,” said Rodrigo Mazón, Chief Content Officer ViX for TelevisaUnivision, in a statement. “Since the launch, we have been working on a path of constant development and production that we know today strongly reflects and resonates with the audience’s preferences and generates great successes in our service,” he added.

Matar Al Jockey (Kill The Jockey) follows Remo Manfredini, a legend in the world of turf racing whose self-destructive behavior overshadows his great talent. Abril, an up-and-coming jockey, is pregnant by Remo and...

Cast includes Francisco Reyes (A Fantastic Woman) and Mariana Di Girólamo (Ema).

Chile’s Clara Films has struck a co-production deal in Cannes with Canada’s December Films and Colombia’s Productora Lap on the bilingual dramedy You Tell Me to star Chilean icon Paulina Garcia from Gloria.

Jacqueline Pepall’s upcoming feature debut is based on the life of Clara Films founder Clara Larrain’s father, who lost 20 years of his memory after an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.

The film will use memory loss to explore the generational divide between baby boomers and their children through their perception of sexuality,...

Cast includes Francisco Reyes (A Fantastic Woman) and Mariana Di Girólamo (Ema).

Chile’s Clara Films has struck a co-production deal in Cannes with Canada’s December Films and Colombia’s Productora Lap on the bilingual dramedy You Tell Me to star Chilean icon Paulina Garcia from Gloria.

Jacqueline Pepall’s upcoming feature debut is based on the life of Clara Films founder Clara Larrain’s father, who lost 20 years of his memory after an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.

The film will use memory loss to explore the generational divide between baby boomers and their children through their perception of sexuality,...

Luis Ortega has wrapped production in Argentina on “Kill the Jockey,” starring Úrsula Corberó, “Money Heist’s” Tokyo, and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (“120 Bpm”), which is shaping up as one of the biggest upcoming movies from Latin America.

Ortega’s follow-up to 2018 Un Certain Regard hit “El Angel,” which sold worldwide and set a box office record in Argentina, “Kill the Jockey” has been snapped up for overseas sales by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Entertainment, which also sold “El Angel.”

TelevisaUnivision VOD service ViX will roll out “Kill the Jockey” in the U.S. and Latin America. Scanbox handles distribution in Scandinavia.

“Kill the Jockey’s” top-notch cast also features Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, Daniel Fanego (“El Ángel”) and Roly Serrano (“Youth”).

It turns on Remo (Pérez Biscayart), the best jockey of his generation, whose addictions, however, have gradually cast a shadow over his glory. Like Abril (Corberó), another jockey,...

Ema Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Ema, Mubi, available now

Actress Mariana Di Girolamo is a Chilean name to watch as she brings chameleon-like qualities to roles like this and, a year later, Leonardo Medel's La Veronica. Here, she plays reggaeton dancer Ema, one half of a couple (alongside Gael Garcia Bernal's choreographer Gaston) whose adoption of a young boy has turned sour along with their relationship. Blazing with contradiction, we see Ema trying on personas for size - mother, wife, sexually liberated fly-by-night - with Di Girolamo bringing a magnetic intensity to each, as her character begins to show she wants to get the child back, no matter what the cost. Beyond the performances, the dance choreography embedded in Pablo Larrain's film and fiercely colour-coded cinematography from Sergio Armstrong are stunning.

Et: The Extra-terrestrial, 2.30pm, ITV2, Easter Monday

If you're looking for something all the family...

Los impactados

2022 was a fruitful one for Argentinean filmmaker Lucía Puenzo – she put out two features in the omnibus Tell It Like a Woman and Dive, and shot television series work in “La Jauría” and “Señorita 89” respectively. This year we’ll be seeing a Ventana Sur film co-production forum workshopped (conceived with Lorena Ventimiglia) 2019 supernatural element project see the light. Production on Los impactados began in August of ’22 with the likes of Mariana Anghileri and Mariana Di Girólamo (Pablo Larraín’s Ema star). Esteban Puenzo, Mark Johnson and Paula P. Manzanedo produce alongside Lucía Puenzo.…...

The summer is coming to an end and with it comes a number of films to have on your to-watch list. From some highly-anticipated auteur-driven films to dazzling animations to riveting documentaries to horror stand-outs, there’s a wide-ranging array of selections. Check out our picks to see below.

12. Ma Belle, My Beauty (Marion Hill)

A premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Marion Hill’s acclaimed drama Ma Belle, My Beauty explores the nuances of a polyamorous relationship. John Fink said in his review, “In some relationships it’s easier to pick up where you left off, even after years of being apart. Others, such as those at the core of Marion Hill’s impressive, nuanced feature film debut Ma Belle, My Beauty—contain more heartbreak and baggage. Screening in Sundance’s Next category, Hill’s picture navigates uncomfortable truths with perspective and lyrical emotional honestly as Lane...

Pablo Larraín is gearing up for a major second half of 2021. At long last, his dance/relationship drama Ema will arrive next month (more on that later) and the premiere of his Kristen Stewart-led Princess Diana drama Spencer has now been confirmed.

Variety reports the drama––which follows Diana as she spends the Christmas holiday with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, and decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles––will premiere at Venice Film Festival. Also starring Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, and Sean Harris, the Steven Knight-scripted drama boasts cinematographer Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and composer Jonny Greenwood as part of the crew.

Before Spencer likely arrives this fall via Neon, Music Box Films will finally get a theatrical release to Ema on August 13, following a digital release on September 14. Led by Mariana Di Girólamo and Gael García Bernal,...

Verónica lies at the centre of her world, a model and football Wag who carefully stage manages her life with selfies in mind. Leonardo Medel reflects this mindset with his film, with cinematographer Pedro Garcia permanently keeping Verónica (Mariana Di Girólamo)  front and centre for the entire running time - the world might not revolve around her but she treats it as though it does. Nothing is more important to her than "putting on a scene", whether that means directing the exact moment for her model buddy to slap on the sunscreen or more sinister manipulations of her husband Javier (Ariel Mateluna).

Even her newborn baby Amanda plays second fiddle to her moods and it fills her with consternation that Javier will not let her be pictured with the child for her fans. Verónica happily tries on one persona after the other - whether it's giving the camera her best...

Yulene Olaizola’s “Tragic Jungle,” Natalia Meta’s “The Intruder” and Clarisa Navas’ “One in a Thousand” will compete in the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Latinos Horizontes, a showcase of standout recent movies from Latin America that this year underscores the emergence or consolidation of a new generation of female filmmakers in Latin America.

In all, women direct or co-direct seven of the nine features in Horizontes Latinos, a section which also features two world premieres: “La Verónica,” from Chile’s Leonardo Medel; and “Unlimited Edition,” co-directed by Virginia Cosín, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Santiago Loza and Romina Paula.

Certainly, this year’s San Sebastian makes no claim via its selection to women having suddenly taken over the Latin American industry: Four of the five titles from the region in other sections, including main competition (Argentine Eduardo Crespo’s “Nosotros Nunca Moriremos”) and New Directors (Brazilian João Paulo Miranda’s “Memory House”) are made by men.

‘First Cow’ to open festival, which will run as a virtual event due to the virus crisis.

Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is to open this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, which has moved online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The virtual festival, titled Miff 68 ½, will run from August 6-23 and marks the first time Australia’s biggest film festival will not take place since its launch in 1952.

The selection comprises 74 features and 44 shorts from 56 countries. Some 49% of the titles include at least one female director. The screenings will be geo-blocked for Australia, marking the first time Melbourne titles can be viewed nationwide,...

Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” is set as the opening movie of the Melbourne International Film Festival. The event was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, before being revived online under the label Miff 68 ½. The festival will unspool virtually Aug 6-23, 2020.

“First Cow” is an unlikely story of friendship and free enterprise on the American frontier, involving a skilled cook, a Chinese immigrant and a wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. It previously played at the Telluride, New York and Berlin festivals.

In total, the festival will present 60 feature films, including 3 in a retrospective section, and 44 shorts. They hail from 56 countries and territories and 49% include at least one female director. All film screenings are geo-blocked to play only within Australia, but are available nationwide.

“Despite the extraordinary circumstances of 2020, Miff’s ‘radical act’ is to keep going and continue on our mission to bring (to audiences) the world through unforgettable screen experiences,...

Chile’s Leonardo Medel directs the drama starring Mariana Di Girolamo.

Berlin-based Films Boutique has picked up world sales rights to La Veronica, a new social media-themed drama directed by Chile’s Leonardo Medel, which is being introduced to buyers during the virtual Cannes market.

The film, produced by Santiago-based outfit Merced, is in post-production and led by rising Latin American star Mariana Di Girolamo, last seen in Pablo Larraín’s Venice competition title Ema.

Girolamo plays the wife of a famous football player who spends her days by the pool, at photo shoots and taking care of her Instagram account.

Pablo Larraín's Ema is having a free virtual preview on Mubi in many countries on May 1, 2020. Following this preview, will be showing exclusively on Mubi in the United Kingdom, India, and other countries in May and June.Above: Pablo Larraín. Photo by Luis Poirot.Known for the incisive ways his films rework the past of Chile, and with Jackie (2016), that of the United States, Pablo Larraín now turns towards the present day. Ema is set in the cultural center of Valparaíso which lends itself perfectly to a vibrant, neon-colored, orgasmic tragedy. Melding the personal grief of a couple who have given away their adoptive child with the universal themes of loss and self-affirmation following it, the film’s emotional circuit mimics the serpentine streets of the city. Ema (Mariana Di Girolamo) is a dancer in her husband Gastón's (Gael García Bernal) company, but from the very outset a crisis seems to disrupt their life,...

While drive-in theaters remain virtually the only theaters still open in the U.S. (and a good place to see a new release like haunted-tree horror “The Wretched”), distributors are getting creative about how to release indie and foreign films.

“Jackie” director Pablo Larraín’s latest, “Ema,” debuts for free on Mubi for one day, teasing a future fall theatrical release planned by Music Box. And Oscilloscope uses the emerging virtual cinema model to debut fiction-doc hybrid “The Infiltrators,” in which undocumented activists find a way to liberate deportation-bound detainees from inside a detention center. Plus, Netflix subscribers get (at least) six original features to justify the subscription.

Here are all the new releases, with excerpts from reviews and links to where you can watch them.

Independent films, directly on demand:

The Assistant (Kitty Green)

Distributor: Bleecker Street

Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon and iTunes

It’s a...

Pablo Larraín's Ema is having a free virtual preview on Mubi in many countries on May 1, 2020. Following this preview, will be showing exclusively on Mubi in the United Kingdom, India, and other countries in May and June.Illustration by Elda Broglio.Halfway through Pablo Larraín’s Ema the camera frames a lamenting image of loss, picturing two adults holding onto each other in a small race car bed. No martial bed is in sight, nor is any child; this is a snapshot of grief. The man’s torso sinks into the woman’s lap, his hands wrapped around her hips. Resting her head on his back, the woman is, at the same time, supporting him and leaning on his shoulders. It is precisely this arresting shot composition that molds Ema into an unorthodox Pietà, using bodies to spell out the film’s tragic potential in a single frame. In this version,...

Exclusive: Following news last week that Mubi is opting to release Pablo Larrain’s latest movie Ema directly online due to cinema closures in the UK, Ireland and India, we can reveal that the streamer has expanded its territories on the title.

The streamer has entered a deal with Nordic releaser NonStop Entertainment to partner on the film’s release in Sweden, Norway and Finland. This is an atypical arrangement in an atypical time. Cinemas are open in Sweden, so the film will go day-and-date in theaters and online May 8, with Mubi handling VOD and NonStop on theatrical. It will mark the first time the Scandi distributor has done a day-and-date release. In Norway and Finland, where cinemas are closed, the film will head directly onto Mubi on the same date.

More from DeadlinePablo Larrain's 'Ema' Heads Directly Online With Mubi In UK, Ireland & India As Cinemas Remain...

This list is being updated…

Pathe has brought forward the online release of Keira Knightley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw starring Miss World pic Misbehaviour by three months after its theatrical play was cut short by the coronavirus shutdowns. The movie was rolled out in the UK on March 13, grossing $426,765 in its opening weekend before all cinemas in the country were shuttered. Now, it will be available across digital platforms from April 15. Jessie Buckley also stars in the feature about how a group of women activists disrupted the 1970 Miss World pageant.

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Pablo Larraín’s Ema is going to skip theatrical and debut online with streaming service Mubi from May 2 in the UK and Ireland (as well as...

Mubi has debuted a new trailer for the acclaimed filmmaker, Pablo Larrain’s ‘Ema’ featuring Gael Garcia Bernal.

Ema (Di Girolamo) is a young dancer in a reggaeton troupe: effortlessly magnetic and dangerously impulsive. Her toxic marriage to older choreographer Gastón (Gael García Bernal) is beyond repair, following a rash decision to hand their adopted child Polo back into the hands of the state. Racked with regret, she sets out on a mission to get her son back, not caring who she’ll need to fight, seduce or destroy to make it happen.

The film is anchored by a searing central performance from rising star Mariana Di Girolamo.

Also in trailers – Trailer chugs in for ‘Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula’

The film will be available to stream via Mubi on May 2nd

The post Gael Garcia Bernal stars in trailer for Pablo Larraín’s ‘Ema’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Ema, the latest feature from Jackie filmmaker Pablo Larraín, will skip theatrical and head online on streaming service Mubi from May 2 in the UK, Ireland and India.

The pic had been planned to have a cinema rollout in the UK and Ireland but the closure of theaters due to coronavirus has made that impossible. Instead, rights holder Mubi will put the film directly on its subscription platform. No solid theatrical plans had been made for India, which is one of the newer territories for the service, but it will now be an online release there too.

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The film premiered at...

Alexandra Codina got involved with filmmaking right after college. Following her job as a production assistant in New York, she began working with the Miami Film Festival in 2002, where she learned to further pursue a career in the filmmaking industry. Codina ran the community programming and outreach areas of the festival until 2005, when she confidently decided to fully pursue documentary production. In 2010, her first feature film, “Monica and David,” was picked up by HBO.

“Because I worked [at the Miami Film Festival], I made a lot of friendships with people in the industry so when I was ready for ‘Monica and David’ it wasn’t as frightening to go out there and to try to sell the film and to try to talk to people as peers,” she says.

This year, Codina returns to the Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival with her feature “Paper Children,” a drama centered on the immigration crisis at the United States-Mexico border.

Before the title card in Pablo Larrain's film Ema is a following shot of the platinum-blonde title character walking down the middle of an empty road lit by neon and fire. It is perhaps the only truly familiar authorial element in Larrain's latest feature. Ema marks Larrain's return to his homeland of Chile after a successful Hollywood debut in Jackie, and he also returns, for the first time since Tony Manero, to apolitical subject matter. There are no coups, riots, or assassinations in Ema; nobody even dies. Instead, a dancer couple (Mariana Di Girolamo as Ema and Gael Garcia Bernal as Gastón) spars after Ema returns their son to foster care after he immolates a family member, trying alternately to destroy and repair the atypical family. The film was co-written by playwright Guillermo Calderón, the scribe behind Neruda and The Club, and like those, it has the hallmarks of a...

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

Chilean director Pablo Larraín was last at the Sundance Film Festival with frequent collaborator Gael García Bernal in 2013 for the Oscar-nominated No. Since then, he’s earned two additional bids from the Golden Globes in the foreign language category for The Club and Neruda. He even made his first film in English: Jackie. Now, Larraín is back with another Bernal film, showing in the Spotlight section after its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.

Though Bernal plays a substantial role, this film is all about actress Mariana Di Girolamo. She stars as the title character, who is married to Bernal’s choreographer character...

Exclusive: Music Box Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Pablo Larraín’s (Jackie) Venice Film Festival drama Ema, starring newcomer Mariana Di Girolamo, Gael García Bernal (Mozart In The Jungle), and Santiago Cabrera (Big Little Lies).

Music Box plans to theatrically release the Sundance-bound drama in summer 2020. The deal was negotiated by Music Box President William Schopf and CAA Media Finance.

Ema charts a woman’s odyssey of personal liberation after a shocking incident upends her family life and marriage to a tempestuous choreographer.

“I feel proud and excited to be working again with Music Box Films, a wonderful company for a movie like Ema in the USA,” said feted Chilean director Larraín. “It’s truly amazing.” The distributor previously released the director’s 2015 film The Club.

“This is one of those films that you have to see to believe,” added Music Box Films’ President William Schopf. “Entirely singular,...

Buenos Aires — Argentina’s Lucía Puenzo, one of Latin America’s most sought-after writer-directors, is in talks with Mariana di Girolamo, star of Pablo Larraín’s “Ema,” and Marcelo Alonso for both to star in feature “Impactados.”

Both actors have expressed their interest in appearing in the film, said Puenzo, which she will pitch to potential co-producers at Ventana Sur Proyecta Forum on Dec. 4.

There, it bids fare to be one of the pitching session’s highlights given its pedigree production – Argentina’s Historias Cinematográficas, the Puenzo family production house led by Academy Award-winning Luis Puenzo, Juan de Dios Larraín at Chile’s Fabula and Stéphane Parthenay at France’s Pyramide Productions – and Puenzo’s own caché as one of Latin America’s very few film directors whose films can open theatrically to significant box office outside Latin America.

Di Girolamo and Alonso played in the acclaimed Fabula-Fremantle-produced and Puenzo showrun TV series “La Jauría.

Exclusive: UTA has come out on top in a competitive tustle to sign Chilean actress Mariana di Girolamo, the breakout star of Pablo Larraín’s (Jackie) Venice and Toronto drama Ema.

Spanish-language festival favorite Ema, also starring Gael Garcia Bernal, follows a couple dealing with the aftermath of an adoption that goes awry as their household falls apart. Di Girolamo was lauded for her lead performance.

The actress is currently attached to star in Spanish-language crime thriller series The Cliff (El Acantilado) from Mediapro and Vice Studios. She is well known in Chile for her starring role in local drama series Perdona Nuestros Pecados and Río Oscuro. Recent feature roles include Chilean comedy No Quiero Ser Tu Hermano and Hotel Zentai. She studied theater at The Catholic University of Chile.

Di Girolamo continues to be represented by Jorge Hernandez at Imc Management.

Dancer drama premiered at Venice this year.

Streaming service and theatrical distributor Mubi has taken UK and Ireland rights to Ema, Pablo Larraín’s dancer drama that premiered at Venice earlier this month. The Match Factory is handling international rights to the film.

The film stars Gael García Bernal and Mariana Di Girolamo and centres on the eponymous Ema, a talented dancer who rethinks her life after a shocking incident upends her family life and marriage to a tempestuous choreographer.

It was written by Guillermo Calderón, Alejandro Moreno and Larraín and produced by Fabula’s Juan de Dios Larraín. Paola Giannini...